Match gizmo to job in kitchen

Sometimes best is costly, but worth it

Aimee Blume / Special to Scripps Newspapers Kerry McGee, executive chef for SMG at The Centre in Evansville, Ind., said his favorite kitchen tool is his Robot Coup food processor.

Chef Kerry McGee prepares dinners not only for hundreds to thousands of catered guests, but also smaller meals catering to the specific likes of celebrities who are performing.

McGee grew up close to Richmond, Ind., but has worked at clubs and restaurants all over the country. In his 30-plus-year career he's served peanut stew and quail to President Jimmy Carter while cooking in Georgia, and collard greens and cornbread to Dolly Parton in Evansville, Ind., where he has been executive chef at SMG at The Centre for nearly eight years.

He said his most valuable kitchen tool is his Robot Coup food processor.

"We use it to purée just about all our cold sauces," he said. "Just the other day I did an herbed cream cheese stuffing with cucumber and dill in it. We thin-slice cucumbers on it, and it really saves time."

Robot Coup is a commercial-brand food processor with an $800 price tag to match its durability, but there are many good brands of home-sized processors that can save time and labor.

Food processors can chop, purée, emulsify mayonnaise, blend, slice, grate, and even whiz up bread and pie dough. They can be purchased in sizes from mini, which are about the size of a coffee cup and perfect for mincing a handful of herbs or scallions, to larger volumes that can handle a quart or more of product at one time.